I have shared this poem before, it seems like it would be a good one to share again after the tragedy in Philadelphia this week. This poem is for those who are mourning, hurting, and asking why. In your storms of life, God still sends messages of hope and stands by you through every difficult day. We sometimes have to listen closely to hear those messages, and sometimes we need someone else to point them out to us, but they are there, sometimes in the most unexpected places.

God bless

“Songs in These Shells”
i am sitting on a sandy black
shore lashed by winter storms.
i am like a pebble that escaped
a riptide only to be lost
in a tumble of rough rocks
and sand.
this shore in the summertime
was all glorious golden yellows
and turquoise dream-away blues
above and beyond,
but this shore is shadowed now
by an abrupt storm i never
saw coming, never
was ready for.
the gold sand is stripped away,
the blue waters have turned
dark and wild. waves like thieves
take the friends and family in those
cherished sunny photos
and hurl them out to sea beyond
my reach. and i watch them leave,
alone.
i am hollow from yelling my pain
into the wind and wishing it to go
away, but it comes back on a sea breeze
and whispers in my raw ears.
the storm grinds me into the sand
like heavy tires over rocks in the mud—
pounding, rolling, endless.
i look down the gray-black beach
and see dots everywhere.
when i look closer i see shells—
whole shells, spiral shells, broken shells.
i pick one up, hold it to my ear.
humming softly is a song from across
the distance of the waves. a message
from where my lost ones are:
be at peace, know we’re safe, know
we love you, know we love you…
the shell in my hand is cracked, but
it still sings when i hold it close to listen.
i would have missed this beautiful sound
if the storm hadn’t washed this shell
onto shore. it doesn’t replace
the people missing from the photos,
but it promises me there are other shores
waiting, other photo albums to fill,
and waiting arms on the other side
of this sea.
i stand up, face the wind, and watch
the horizon. there are storms on these waters,
but there are also songs in these shells.